Newsletters

Mullumbimby Community Action Newsletters

Newsletter Name: Ungrouped

Alert Correction Wifi BSC this week Smart Meters and Planning Reform

;
CORRECTION and apology – yesterday’s newsletter went out with last week’s heading (Red Alert) – a mistake due to reformatting process. Currently Bentley is on Orange Alert.

;

;

;

;
FREE WIFI IN THE SHIRE?

;

;
MOTION no 9.5 this Thurs 8.4.14 at BSC

;

;
“MEETING TO INVESTIGATE THE PROVISION OF FREE WIRELESS INTERNET”

;

;
Cr Paul Spooner is tabling above motion to discuss free wifi blanket coverage at Mullumbimby, Bangalow, Brunswick Heads, Ocean Shores, and Byron Bay. Click on AGENDA at http://www.byron.nsw.gov.au/meetings/2014-04-10-ordinary for full details. You may notice that safety issues are not going to be discussed. In fact the motion says that the wifi will be provided in a “safe and efficient way”; an assumption which is contentious. See Barry Trower British physicist and ex-Royal Navy microwave warfare specialist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z99_SzoXZdY or go to www.mullumwifi.com if you want to research further.

;

;

;

;
CSG REMINDER:

;

;
There are 2 motions in council this week relating to gasmining; Cr Duncan Dey’s Motion re future safety of our drinking water, and Cr Basil Cameron’s motion to have macadamia farming, beef and dairy industries in the Shire protected from invasive mining through Critical Industry Cluster (CIC) status, currently only enjoyed by racing stables and vineyards. Two brilliant speakers will be speaking for the motions in public access from 9 am – I wish I could be there (but I have to work).

;
Alanna has been very active in Victoria with community opposition to Smart Meters, and other EMR-related issues. She is also a published author with an extensive background in dowsing, Earth energies, building biology and natural gardening. You can visit her website here: www.geomantica.com

;

;

;

;
“SMART METERS”

;

;
Reports have come in that Smart Meters are now being installed North of Murwillumbah. They WILL arrive in your town almost before you know it. If you wish not to be subjected to microwave radiation, spying, and higher tariffs from the new meters, communicate to Origin that you want to keep your existing one. Directions on how to do this by legal letter, signage, and restricting access can be found using internet searches such as, "refuse smart meter". The following Australian website is also worth visiting: www.stopsmartmeters.com.au

;

;

;

;
NBN TOWERS

;

;
Besides the 8 towers mentioned on BSC’s website, there is another one (not mentioned) planned for Broken Head Road, Newrybar. How many more NBN Towers are Visionstream planning without informing Council? Please let me know if you’ve heard of any more (66843723) or Contact us on www.mullumaction.org&#160; Towers currently notified at: Billinudgel, Clunes North, Eureka East, Federal, Hayters Hill, Main Arm, Mullum Creek (next to golf course clubhouse) and Manse Road Myocum. Main Arm being the only proposal with a DA. The rest are supposed to be of “State significance”.

;

;

;

;
HAZZARD’S PLANNING REFORM

;

;
What’s a “Pre-Gateway Review”? (from SMH)

;

;
Before November 2012, there was no means of appeal against a council decision on land zoning.

;

;
A landowner could appeal to the Land and Environment Court if a development application was refused, but not on zoning.

;

;
Then so-called ''pre-gateway'' reviews were introduced, allowing developers to apply to a regional planning panel for a review of a council's refusal to rezone land.

;

;
The panel makes a recommendation to the planning minister, who can then pass the application through the gateway, a checkpoint in the planning process.

;

;
There are 40 pre-gateway applications being processed by Planning, and a war of words has broken out between Planning Minister Brad Hazzard and the Better Planning Network, an organisation leading opposition to his planning reforms.

;

;
The network, which claims affiliation with 450 groups, wants pre-gateway reviews scrapped because it says they are ''just another way for developers to trash the wishes of councils and communities''.

;

;
A spokeswoman for the minister called the network ''the ideological offspring of the Greens, who are more interested in their own political backyard, or actual backyard, than protecting the environment''. ;